Family Rallies For Girl After Heart Transplant

It wasn't enough that Aimee Zabrin was diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer in her chest cavity at age 2 and had to undergo extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Her doctors didn't think she would live, family members said, but the youngster pulled through and two years later her cancer was declared in remission.

But Zabrin, now 14, faces death for the second time in her young life-this time as a result of side effects from the earlier medical treatments.

During a routine checkup in March, doctors diagnosed Zabrin with cardiomyopathy-a weakening of the heart muscles-admitted her to the hospital, and scheduled her for a heart transplant, family members said.

After nearly eight weeks of waiting for a heart, Zabrin underwent the surgery Saturday and was listed in critical condition Sunday at Children's Memorial Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

"She's a fighter," said her uncle, Doug Zabrin. "No kid should have to go through what she went through 12 years ago, and then she had to go through this. If anyone can beat it, it's Aimee."

The lively teenager, a Wheeling High School freshman and an avid golfer who is a member of the school's varsity team, has acted in school plays and plays the cello.

"Aimee is only about 4-foot-6, so she picked the biggest instrument she could find-the cello," said another uncle, Curt Rodin.

During the weeks that Zabrin waited for a heart, family members watched helplessly as her condition deteriorated in a hospital bed at Children's Memorial Medical Center. She was placed on a ventilator Thursday.

Not willing to give up hope in the search, the close-knit family, including aunts, uncles and cousins, organized a phone-a-thon Friday at Rodin's law office.

After less than three hours, one of the 50 volunteers who together had called about 500 hospitals nationwide-placed a call to a Texas hospital, which coincidentally was already on the phone with Children's hospital about a heart that would just hours later become Zabrin's, family members said.

"One of the most amazing experiences was when we heard that helicopter (carrying the heart) approaching the hospital," said Doug Zabrin. "It was 4 a.m. and we were all tired. We heard the helicopter thumping and we ran to the window and saw that beautiful sight. We were all cheering."

Rodin acknowledged that the family has been doing a lot of praying for Zabrin.

"She was robbed of a lot of her childhood, but she never let that stand in her way," Rodin said, adding that Zabrin's growth was stunted by the chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Rodin described Zabrin as outgoing and always concerned about the feelings of others.

"The last thing she said before they had to put her on the ventilator . . . was `Doctor, I want you to find me a heart, and then I'll meet you on Aug. 1 at the first tee, and let's do it,' " Rodin said.

Both uncles said the experience has made them want to promote organ donation.

As of April 1, according to the Regional Organ Bank of Illinois, 1,699 people in Illinois and northwest Indiana were awaiting organs, and of those, 127 were seeking hearts, said Lorraine Willmot, spokeswoman for the organ bank. Nationwide, 34,563 people were awaiting organs and 2,934 of those were seeking hearts, Willmot said.

She said one patient is added to the national list every 20 minutes, and 6 or 7 people die each day waiting for organs.

The uncles said that just as some of their relatives had not signed up to donate their organs until they learned that Zabrin was scheduled for a heart transplant, they hope others will consider becoming organ donors to help other patients.

"There's nothing more people can do for Aimee-that's in the doctors' hands-but we need to get people to go through this process," Doug Zabrin said.